It all began January 5th 1989. I gave birth to a beautiful 8lb 3oz baby boy...Joshua Dean Thomas McNaught. I was only 18, so it was a shock to all.
I had no idea how I was going to cope, but I knew that I had this little person's life solely in my hands and I loved him more than life itself.
Over the years Joshua and I grew up together. As I was a single parent I did most of it on my own. We went through many trials and tribulations together, but at the end of the day Josh was growing to be a fine young man.
He had a heart of gold. He had the rare ability to be everyone's friend no matter what age you were. For many years Joshua wanted to have a sibling, so finally I gave him a little brother. Liam was born April 15, 1997.
Joshua couldn't have been more proud. He was Liam's best friend from the moment he lay his eyes on him. They soon became inseparable. I was so proud having my two boys. I loved to sit back and watch them playing together. Josh was always so gentle with him. I just knew in my heart that Josh would grow up to be an incredible adult one day. He knew the true meaning of compassion which he had to learn at a very young age, as I developed clinical depression. He knew how to share. He loved to buy me flowers with his pocket money, or just to spend his money on others. He knew how to love for he loved everyone. He knew the true meaning of Family. He had the most incredible bond with his Nana....best friends forever. Well this beautiful child was taken away from me on Valentine's Day 2000. Josh left to go to a school camp that day. He had only been at his new school for 3 weeks and they were going on a camp out of town. He left that morning and at 9:45pm that night I had a knock on the door that is every parents worst nightmare.....and now my reality. It was the police, "We regret to inform you that your son Joshua drowned today while swimming in a water hole at the Kauerunga Valley Christian Camp" My legs gave way and I just screamed and screamed for what seemed like an eternity. The sparkle left my eyes that day and my heart will never beat the same. I lost my son and Liam lost his hero. It turned out that 59 children had gone down to the waterhole with 6 adults and Joshua and his friend Revan got into trouble in the water and both boys drowned. The terrible thing about this is that they only got Revan out of the water and managed to resus him and fly him off in the helicopter but they didn't know that my son was at the bottom of a 4 meter hole dead for 2 hours. They didn't even do a role call. None of the adults there knew how many children were even on the camp so a headcount was useless. I am now looking into suing the school for negligence, but here in New Zealand that is a very hard thing to prove. I just want this nightmare to end and I want to wake up and hear those sweet words once more "I LOVE YOU MUM". Joshua and I had a bond with Rainbows and whenever I see one I know that my son is thinking of me. Since his death I have been inundated with Rainbows. So he is and always has been known as my 'Rainbow Boy'.
There is alot more to my story but I don't have the space to tell it. I MISS YOU SON. YOU ARE FOREVER IN MY HEART. Thank you all for sharing my story.
Mother to Joshua, forever 11
Kirstin McNaught
